Russian Jew Flees Across Dneister into Roumania

December 2, 1930

Kishenev (Dec. 1)

The Roumanian border police today arrested in Kriulian, on the River Dniester, a Jew who swam over the river from the Russian side. The arrested Jew explained to the police that he was delegated by 140 Jews who are now gathered at the Soviet-Roumanian border waiting for the Dniester to freeze in order to pass into Roumania over the frozen river.

“These Jews delegated me to ask the Roumanian authorities to permit them to remain in Roumania until they would be able to proceed to their relatives in the United States and South America. They are willing to be kept in concentration camps until the possibility for proceeding further arrives,” the arrested Jew explained.

The Jewish community of Kishenev is therefore now urged to take up the question of how legally to assist those Soviet Jews who risk their lives and cross the Dniester into Roumania. The Bessarabian Jewish and Russian newspapers predict that when the Dniester becomes frozen, Jews from Soviet Russia will flood the border cities as they did in the 1920-1923 period, when Soviet Russia suffered from a famine.